Gunners linked with Italian keeper Viviano

Arsenal are being linked with a move for Italian goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano (seen in action above against Jan Molby and err…Jan Molby) as speculation mounts that Arsene Wenger will try and snaffle some back-up to Wojciech Szczesny before the start of next term.

The 26-year-old, who has six caps for his country and is currently reserve keeper for the Azzurri at Euro 2012, is currently co-owned by Palermo and Inter Milan, but is almost certain to leave Sicily this summer.

Last week the stopper was tipped to join Fiorentina by Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini, but reports have surfaced in Italy that the Gunners have entered into negotiations for his signature. Torino, West Ham United and even Tottenham Hotspur have also been linked with the player in recent months.

Viviano suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury in July last year and was ruled out until January, although he has since proved his fitness at Palermo making 20 appearances last term.

Given that Lukasz Fabianski (injury permitting) and Vito Mannone are both eager to quit the Emirates for more first team football, not forgetting the exit of Manuel Almunia, it seems likely that Arsenal will be forced into the market for a keeper of some sorts. Whether Viviano is actually a target remains to be seen.

It’s more than possible that this is an internet rumour spiralling out of control or indeed the work of pesky agent looking to get his client a better deal. We’ll just have to wait and see how it pans out…

Isn’t Craig Gordon available on a free? Back in the day, Arsene baulked at the fee for Gordon and went for Fabianski instead but Gordon must have remained on his radar. His injury record admittedly is not good but then Arsenal’s facilities are some of the best in the world for player rehabilitation so could work for both parties.
Whatever happens lets just hope that Szesney get the No. 1 shirt now Almunia is out the door. With the launch of the new strip, it is a chance to sort the whole squad number fiasco out once and for all and reward the first picks for each position with the number traditionally associated with that position.
I attribute the trophy drought to Wenger giving the legendary DB10 shirt to le cock that is Gallas. There is a natural order to things in the Universe and Diaby wearing No. 2 goes completely against this. Earn you shirt no. or lose it
Please Arseblog, start a petition!!

It’s about time we were linked with someone new today. We do need a backup keeper. It’s a very tough position to buy for, not many keepers apart from Stuart Taylor want to be backup for most of their career

Great career move by Stuart Taylor, leave The Arsenal to become the No 2 keeper at Villa, made about as much sense as Cudicini leaving Chelsea to be Spuds No 2.
Craig Gordon would be a decent back up IMO, or someone like Given. Szechny needs to be getting advice from a quality experienced player. I do wonder about our Goal keeping coach, is it still Peyton? He hasnt seemed able to iron out the frailties in Almunia and Flappy’s games. Oh to have Seaman passing on his pearls of wisdom.

If our lads refuse accept szcz as our number one, let them go. Any new signing we make will do so with the expectation that they will be on the bench. Lets not get our panties in a bunch until the story is confirmed by the Arsenal.

From what I’ve seen of him, he seems a pretty decent keeper – being backup to Buffon is no insult. I’d feel pretty confident with him between the sticks so he should keep Szczesny on his toes. Hope there’s something to this, we do need to sign a keeper I think because Martinez probably isn’t good enough to be our second stringer just yet.

I’m not sure it’s entirely correct to call him Buffon’s backup.. I think he’s actually 4th or 5th choice. Viviano didn’t make Italy’s Euro 2012 squad, with De Scantis from Napoli and Sirigu from PSG getting in ahead of him. And at the World Cup, Marchetti from Lazio played when Buffon was injured..

[…] has a big future ahead of him, and next season will be a big test for him. We have also been linked to Italian custodian Viviano. There were also rumours about that Norwegian keeper. Now with Almunia released, and Fabianski […]

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